ABSTRACT
This paper aims to present a brief history of ideas in Europe between 1550 and 1900 on the spoken and written languages of China. With the support of Sylvain Auroux moderate historicism (2004), I have chosen as a guideline to focus on the discussions regarding the nature of Chinese writing: ideographic or phonographic. While refusing to take sides, I intend to show that this debate has developed around recurring issues that have been revisited throughout this period of more than three centuries and that the studies published by the Europeans are deeply rooted in their cultural, social and ideological context of production. The precarious status of writing in the history of linguistic ideas is an outstanding evidence that is related to the historical leading role of the written Chinese influencing the development in the West of the concepts pertaining to writing, in particular in its representational possibilities. Finally, I propose that the ongoing debates on the subject still reproduce many of the issues explored throughout this history, the resolution of which is still far from being reached.
History of Linguistics Ideas; Chinese; Europe; Writing